http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41410
THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
U.N. flag at half-mast for Arafat
Annan gives 'special tribute' at General Assembly
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Posted: November 11, 2004
5:00 p.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
While Yasser Arafat is being remembered by many as the father of modern terrorism, the United Nations headquarters in New York City is honoring the Palestinian leader by lowering its flag to half-mast.
"Deeply moved" by news of his death, U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan gave Arafat a "special tribute" before the General Assembly this afternoon after conveying condolences to his wife and daughter.
"By signing the Oslo accords in 1993 he took a giant step towards the realization of this vision," Annan said in a statement delivered by a spokesman.
"It is tragic that he did not live to see it fulfilled."
In a briefing in New York, spokesman Fred Eckhard said the secretary-general has asked Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process and personal representative to the Palestinian Authority, to represent him at President Arafat's funeral in Cairo.
Eckhard said Annan was not going to the funeral because it was impossible for him to make the travel arrangements on such short notice.
The U.N. chief, he noted, travels commercially and to get to Cairo by tomorrow probably would have required a private plane.
Annan was not sending any kind of message by not attending, Eckhard asserted.
He noted that the General Assembly, in a series of rulings over the years, had accorded Arafat a status equivalent to a head of state.
Annan decided Arafat should be accorded the same status in death as he obtained during his life, and the General Assembly president agreed, the spokesman said.
THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
U.N. flag at half-mast for Arafat
Annan gives 'special tribute' at General Assembly
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: November 11, 2004
5:00 p.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
While Yasser Arafat is being remembered by many as the father of modern terrorism, the United Nations headquarters in New York City is honoring the Palestinian leader by lowering its flag to half-mast.
"Deeply moved" by news of his death, U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan gave Arafat a "special tribute" before the General Assembly this afternoon after conveying condolences to his wife and daughter.
"By signing the Oslo accords in 1993 he took a giant step towards the realization of this vision," Annan said in a statement delivered by a spokesman.
"It is tragic that he did not live to see it fulfilled."
In a briefing in New York, spokesman Fred Eckhard said the secretary-general has asked Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process and personal representative to the Palestinian Authority, to represent him at President Arafat's funeral in Cairo.
Eckhard said Annan was not going to the funeral because it was impossible for him to make the travel arrangements on such short notice.
The U.N. chief, he noted, travels commercially and to get to Cairo by tomorrow probably would have required a private plane.
Annan was not sending any kind of message by not attending, Eckhard asserted.
He noted that the General Assembly, in a series of rulings over the years, had accorded Arafat a status equivalent to a head of state.
Annan decided Arafat should be accorded the same status in death as he obtained during his life, and the General Assembly president agreed, the spokesman said.
